The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) makes larger suppliers pay you for electricity you send to the grid, but each one sets its own rate. As at 8 October 2026, the best rate open to anyone was 13p per kWh from Fuse Energy. Among the big suppliers, E.ON Next and ScottishPower paid 6p to anyone. Everything higher, up to 20p, needs you to buy your electricity from that supplier or to have had it install your system.
Plug-in solar: no export payments yet for most kits
A kit you buy and plug in yourself can’t currently get an SEG tariff from any supplier we checked, because every one asks for installer certification or electrician-signed paperwork. Octopus is the exception for its own kits: it offers an Outgoing export tariff to people who buy its own plug-in kit and its electricity, and says a kit bought elsewhere gets no Octopus export tariff. British Gas says it is “currently working to make this possible and expect[s] to have some good news soon”. EDF and Fuse Energy now say plainly that plug-in kits don’t qualify. Details below.
SEG rates compared
| Supplier | Best rate open to anyone | Higher rates, and what they need |
|---|---|---|
| Fuse Energy | 13p (variable) | Only the open rate checked |
| E.ON Next | 6p (Next Flex Export) | 13p with E.ON electricity; 17.5p if E.ON installed your system |
| ScottishPower | 6p (SmartGen) | 12p with ScottishPower electricity; 15p if it installed your system |
| So Energy | 4.5p (So Export Flex) | Only the open rate checked |
| Octopus | 4.1p (SEG, fixed 12 months) | 12p Outgoing, 16p/9p Prime, Agile: all need Octopus electricity |
| OVO | 4p (SEG) | 12p with OVO electricity; up to 20p if OVO installed your system |
| British Gas | 3p (Export SEG) | 12p Export Premium for British Gas electricity customers (systems up to 15kW) |
| EDF | 3p (SEG Export Variable) | 5.6p or 13p with EDF electricity; 18p after a Contact Solar installation |
| Utilita | 3p | Only the open rate checked |
| Utility Warehouse | 2p | 8p with energy plus two other UW services |
Rates per kWh exported, read on each supplier’s own site on 8 October 2026; So Energy, Utilita and Utility Warehouse as last checked on 25 September 2026. Fuse Energy is a separate supplier, not part of Octopus, and its figure comes from its own published article about its SEG tariff rather than a tariff page. Rates change, so check before you switch.
What the higher rates ask of you
Almost every rate above single figures comes with one of two conditions:
- Buy your electricity from them. E.ON Next 13p, ScottishPower 12p, OVO 12p, British Gas 12p, EDF 13p and every Octopus Outgoing tariff.
- Have them install your system. E.ON Next 17.5p, ScottishPower 15p, OVO up to 20p and EDF’s 18p, which needs a Contact Solar installation from an enquiry sent on or after 2 March 2026.
Fuse is the outlier: it says its 13p rate is open to “all eligible customers, including export-only customers who buy their electricity from another supplier”, reviewed quarterly.
Who can get the SEG
Ofgem says the SEG covers solar PV and other small generation “up to a capacity of 5MW”, located in Great Britain, and that “your SEG licensee does not need to be the same company as your current energy supplier”. Its guidance for generators says every application must show the installation and installer are “suitably certified”, and have an export meter with an export MPAN that can take half-hourly readings.
On certification, Ofgem does not insist on MCS. It says a certificate “may be a Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certificate” and that the SEG recognises other schemes as equivalent, and that without MCS the installation and installer “should be accredited in accordance with EN 45011 or EN ISO/IEC 17065:2012”. If you can’t show certification, a supplier “is not obliged to offer payments under the SEG, but they can make payments if they wish.”
Suppliers’ own wording varies. Most ask for MCS or Flexi-Orb. ScottishPower accepts “a certificate from a certified installer such as MCS, Flexi-Orb, NICEIC, NAPIT or a similar certification”, the broadest list we found, though still from a certified installer. Octopus publishes a route without MCS using an Electrical Installation Certificate, a Building Regulations certificate and a DNO acceptance letter, for a £250 fee. Our SEG without MCS guide goes through each.
Plug-in solar and the SEG, supplier by supplier
- Octopus: buy its kit and its electricity and you get an Outgoing export tariff (its own pages disagree on which one). Buy its kit but keep another supplier, and set up export with that supplier. Buy a kit elsewhere and “You won’t be able to sign up for an Octopus export tariff for that system.” You must register the kit and have DNO approval first. On 1 October 2026 Octopus said its kits had sold out. See Octopus Outgoing.
- British Gas: “we’re currently working to make this possible and expect to have some good news soon”. Not live on 8 October 2026. See the British Gas export tariff.
- EDF: its plug-in explainer, posted on 17 September 2026, says plug-in owners can’t “earn money through Smart Export tariffs”. See the EDF export tariff.
- Fuse Energy: its plug-in article says “Plug-in solar systems do not qualify for the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG)”, because they’re “typically self-installed and not MCS-certified”.
- E.ON Next, ScottishPower, OVO: nothing specific to plug-in solar on their SEG pages, or in ScottishPower’s September 2026 terms; their certification requirements apply, which a self-installed kit can’t meet.
The sums are small in any case. Octopus estimates a plug-in kit’s export earnings at “the max could be £50/ year”. A plug-in kit pays back mainly through the electricity you use as it generates, so our self-consumption guide matters more than any export rate.
Choosing an export tariff
- Happy with your electricity supplier? Compare its customer rate with the best open rate elsewhere; the SEG lets you split import and export.
- Have a battery? Time-of-use export such as Octopus Prime (16p from 4pm to 7pm) or Agile can beat a flat rate, if you buy Octopus electricity. See our smart tariffs guide.
- Fixed or variable? Octopus’s SEG, E.ON’s customer and install tariffs and EDF’s 12-month tariffs are fixed; the open-to-anyone rates at E.ON, ScottishPower, British Gas and Fuse are variable.
Questions
What is the best SEG rate in the UK?
For anyone, whatever supplier they buy electricity from, Fuse Energy's 13p variable rate was the highest we found on 8 October 2026, followed by E.ON Next and ScottishPower at 6p. Higher rates exist, up to 20p, but each needs you to buy electricity from that supplier or to have had it install your system.
Can I get the Smart Export Guarantee with plug-in solar?
Not with a kit you bought and plugged in yourself, as things stand. Every supplier asks for MCS, Flexi-Orb or equivalent certification, or electrician-signed documents, plus a DNO letter. Octopus offers an Outgoing export tariff only for kits bought from Octopus with Octopus electricity. British Gas says it's working on a plug-in route and expects good news soon, but hadn't launched it by 8 October 2026. EDF says plug-in owners can't earn money through Smart Export tariffs, and Fuse Energy says plug-in systems don't qualify for the SEG.
Do I have to export to the same supplier I buy electricity from?
No. Ofgem says 'your SEG licensee does not need to be the same company as your current energy supplier.' The best rates, though, are usually reserved for a supplier's own electricity customers.
Does the SEG require MCS?
Not in so many words. Ofgem's guidance says certification 'may be a Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certificate' but recognises equivalent schemes, and otherwise points to accreditation under EN 45011 or EN ISO/IEC 17065. In practice suppliers ask for MCS, Flexi-Orb or similar, and Octopus publishes a route using electrician-signed documents instead.
How much would a plug-in kit earn from export?
Very little. Octopus, which does offer export to buyers of its own kits, estimates a plug-in kit's export earnings at a maximum of about £50 a year. Most of a plug-in kit's value is electricity you use as it generates.